Ultimate Dota 2 Hard Support Guide How To Climb To Immortal As Position 5 Only

Perhaps the biggest misconception in Dota 2 is that you HAVE to play carry or mid lane to win games & start climbing in ranked games. However, this is not true, it is only a myth and something bad players keep saying because they don’t want to admit that they might be doing something wrong.

There are plenty of pro players and high-ranked immortals that can grind their way to 9K+ MMR and above and today we’re actually going to be looking at exactly how they are doing that. In particular, we’re following seasoned veteran, former pro & 2016 TI Finalist Rasmus “Misery” Filipsen’s tips on how to start climbing as hard support.

These tips are taken from Misery’s newly released GamerzClass, a 6-hour course that is meant to teach players what it takes to reach the much wanted Immortal Rank in Dota 2.

* Pick the Right Hero in Drafting

The first thing you need to start thinking about after clicking the accept button starts almost immediately. You need to pick the right hero. This is not always an obvious thing to do especially since the position 5 is almost always going to pick first but even so there are a few things you can do to give yourself the best chances possible.

A good rule of thumb is to pick a solid ranged hero if you don’t know anything about what your teammates will pick. Since you aren’t able to counter the enemy heroes with yours, a good strategy is to pick something that pairs well with your team’s choices.

Lastly, your lane partner may not have any idea what works well with your hero and in those cases, a good practice is to suggest them anywhere between 2-4 picks that synergise well with you in the lane. It is unlikely they will pick the 1 hero that is the best fit but if you suggest multiple ones the odds of your carrying taking something good are very high.

* Dominate The Laning Phase

The laning phase is often considered the most important part of the game and while it is important it’s by no means a be all end all type of scenario. Anyway, Misery explains in his class what the ideal laning phase looks like and how to conquer it.

Your role is to make sure that the carry has the best start possible. Every game will be different based on what each hero needs to succeed so starting to think about win conditions early on is the first thing to dominate the laning.

* Give Your Carry Solo XP & Regen

Most of the time your carry won’t need to get every single last hit in the game to have a good start as long as they can stay in lane and get XP. For this, you want to make sure that they get as much XP as possible sometimes meaning you can go pull the lane to deny creeps and give out regen to your carry so he always feels safe.

As long as they hit level 5 or 6 without dying too many times, they will probably be able to rotate into the jungle or to another lane quite early in the game. In exchange, this gives you the lane to yourself so you can catch up and be close to level 6 before the 10 min game.

[BlogCtaGameSpecific]
Winning the vision war is oftentimes your responsibility as hard support. Achieving a victory over the fog of war almost always comes down to being the first to place down the wards. Generally, a good habit is to always think about what side of the map you want to be playing on and place in that area. If your plan is to secure Roshan in the next minutes, make sure to ward that area and play around your own vision.

Counter-warding can be a bit trickier for new players, however, pro player Misery suggests that to make it easier for yourself, you should always be looking at the minimap and if you see the enemy running together on one side of the map, you should always assume they planted a ward there and keep placing sentries.

Lastly, a piece of good warding advice is to look to place vision in less obvious spots to avoid having your wards get instantly dewarded and force the enemy to invest more gold in sentries. This tactic works especially well when playing from ahead as the enemy supports will be poor and can’t afford multiple sentries.

Most of the time, support players tend to be over sacrificial. While this is a good strategy every now and then, it is important to not fall super behind and at some point, you have to go for the resources available on the map to catch up.

Making sure that you hit your power spikes (level 6) early on is a lot of the times what will dictate if you’re going to have a good game or not. If you’ve sacrificed a lot to get your carry ahead, perhaps take the time to farm 1 or 2 waves and catch up. This applies both before getting certain key items such as blink dagger, glimmer cape or force staff.

All heroes are different and are powerful in different situations. Think about your hero and when he is the most efficient and play around that. A front lining & disrupting Undying position 5 will be played completely differently than an Oracle, Dazzle or Crystal Maiden.

* Play Around The Right Heroes

If you find yourself running around the map trying to look for plays without any success, pro players recommend that you take a look at the timer and figure out which hero is the strongest in your team at this moment in the game.

Early in the game when your carry starts hitting the jungle, a simple observer ward will be enough to cover for him and then you can start playing with either your off laner or mid laner depending on who is ready to fight. Sitting behind them and being able to cover or initiate will ensure that you get a good game.

As the game progresses you want to be moving towards your carry a lot more and let the 4-6 slotted juggernaut or anti-mage do all the work. At this point, you want to do whatever he needs you to do. Perhaps all you need to do is throw all your spells and soak damage. Drawing attention to you while the enemy is getting destroyed is a viable late-game strategy.

Conclusion
Of course, these are the basic things that you can be doing as a support player to make sure that you are increasing your win rate however there are multiple advanced topics that are being covered by Misery in his 6-hour masterclass.

Keep in mind that even with this class it won’t mean that you will be winning every game, but when playing support you are doing everything you can to increase the odds that your team will carry. The game is easier to play if you have gold and items and your job as a support player is to make sure that your team can reach that point.

If you’re interested in learning more about the other Core Roles, you should go ahead and check out Topson’s Midlane Masterclass, Nikobaby’s Advanced Carry Course & Boxi’s Ultimate Off Lane lessons.

For more support, both Evil Geniuses Cr1t & Alliance’s Handsken have their own versions for the difficult yet very rewarding roaming support.
[BlogCtaGeneral]